I am a huge fan of marinière pattern fabrics. I think they're elegant, with a timeless charm, with a style that never goes out of fashion. When I walk into a store and I see a striped dress for the summer, I am immediately attracted and my summer wardrobe is an explosion of variations on the theme of black or blue stripes on a white background. and that's a bit why I liked this mid weight Minerva's cotton, because it is at the same time classic but unexpected, with its raspberry stripes of the perfect size. I chose the Vogue pattern V 9146 model that I had already tested a few months before, but I decided to make a more summery variation by removing the sleeves. The basic pattern includes a paramonture for the neckline, but to adapt it to a sleeveless version I preferred to opt for a version with lined bodice for a cleaner interior trim (I have not yet decided to buy a overlock...).
I tried to play a bit with the stripes, adapting them to the design of the dress: horizontal for the belt, aligned with the neckline for the bodice. as usual this kind of pattern is not easy to manage for the joints, but it creates a beautiful effect for round skirts where the stripes change orientation from the center to the sides. The time of positioning the pattern pieces on the fabric before the cut is absolutely crucial and a nice plus of this fabric is that the stripes are slightly visible on the back, so it was easier to align the symmetrical pieces or to connect them.
I had some difficulties in the shoulder connections because finding how to join the oblique stripes on the front and the vertical stripes on the back was really impossible. So I found a small trick to hide the connections at shoulder level: a military shoulder style finish of the same fabric... why not? I find it quite a success!
This was my second project with the Vogue Pattern. I think they're great and I love them: the fit is perfect, the instructions are quite clear and you can find some little hacks for impeccable details (for example, I learned the understiching technique for the top lining)
The only limit of this model, compared to others I have tried, is that the bodice has a standard size and being a wrap model it has the tendency to be a bit too wide for my morphology. I would like to take a class to learn how to adapt the patterns to have really tailored clothes!
I was able to use this dress during one of the last days of summer here in Paris at the end of September, on a beautiful sunny afternoon spent among the gardens of the Tuileries and the court Richelieu of the Louvre. Looking at these pictures makes me want to be on summer holidays!

Alessandra @archineedle

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